Who is protecting the children?

As a health care provider and patient advocate, I know that one of the worst things you can do is to radically separate children from their parents and from the rest of their family. The immigration ordeal is beyond tragic. Worse yet, now there is a chance that children may never be united due to faulty record keeping and a rush to keep a deadline. Parents may be forced to leave the country without their children.

In my opinion, the detained children are being treated like criminals. Who is consenting for these DNA samples on behalf of the children? It seems to me that collecting DNA from minors without due cause or having legal consent from parents on file would be illegal and violating basic constitutional rights. Collecting DNA to compensate for a faulty record keeping system is not a valid reason to violate the rights of others. Violating policies and protocols in an attempt to rush to meet a deadline is beyond reprehensible.

It is obvious that this decision was not well thought out. It is tragic that parents were separated from their children. It is unconscionable that the government would be taking advantage of the vulnerabilities of children and their parents – all for the sake of a political agenda.

There exists the possibility that many of these children will grow up never seeing their parents or other family members ever again.

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